The Bank of Daddy
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day eight hundred and sixty-six: top 16, number 12: Sugar knows just how to bounce back from Will telling her no, but she'll need help...


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 41st cycle. Now cycle 42!_

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><p><em><strong>INTRODUCING "CHEAT SHEET" - <strong>If you want to know ahead of time when a certain series will be updated next, just reassemble the link below and check out the list, save it, print it, bookmark it, whatever you need!  
>Go to: <span>gleekathon [dot] tumblr [dot] com [slash] cheatsheet<span>_

_** UPDATED WITH CYCLE 42 CHEAT SHEET **_

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><p><strong>Countdown cycle #4 - <strong>Yes, it's that time again, where I select 16 favorite things (characters, ships, friendships...) from Glee and give them each a ficlet, and a chapter fic for #1. The previous countdown cycles, if you want to check them out, were c10 [days 190-210], c25 [days 505-525], and c29 [days 589-609]. Like the last countdowns, the #1 story is split in 3 blocks, the chapters posted on Tuesdays and Wednesdays over these three weeks, with #16 to #2 from Thursdays to Mondays.  
><strong>Coming in at #12...<strong>

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><p><strong>"The Bank of Daddy"<br>Sugar (& Al Motta) **

Her Nana would say impulses were her worst enemy. Impulses and heartaches, a lethal cocktail. No one liked rejection, of any kind, but for her it was the prelude to disaster. Someone telling her she wasn't good enough was just an invitation for her to turn around and find a way.

Then came Glee Club. Then came her rejection from Glee Club. Will Schuester… Who did he think he was, who did any of them… No, Sugar Motta wasn't just going to stand by and have them turn her away. She would show them; all she needed was a way in. She spent a good afternoon just sitting in her room, thinking… thinking…

It came to her all of a sudden, so simple and brilliant at the same time that it urged her to her feet, mind still racing and taking her breath with it. She nodded to herself, then her mind went to the next logical step. She took great strides, carried out of her room and unable to stop until she located him.

"Daddy?" she found him reading a newspaper in the living room. No doubt he'd see her coming once she pulled out that word, but this was no time for beating around the bush.

"Sweetie?" was his response, and it carried just as much meaning. She always remembered how he'd tell her, that they'd named her Sugar because the moment he'd seen her face he knew he'd never seen anything sweeter, so she was his Sweetie… Her word said she needed something; his said that he'd give it to her if he could, and hardly ever could he not.

"What would I have to do to have my Glee Club at school?" she asked, sitting at his side and putting the paper aside once he'd rested it in his lap.

"Don't they already have a Glee Club?" he asked, patiently waiting for the rest of the story.

"They do, but they suck," she shrugged.

"Sugar…" he frowned.

"Well they didn't want me. I just wanted to help them, since they clearly needed someone like me," she explained, easily displaying her disappointment.

"As many of us do," he gave her a smile, which she returned.

"That's what I was saying, but it didn't matter to them, they just turned me down."

"And now you want to do… what, exactly?" he asked.

"Make another Glee Club, a better one," she nodded, showing how serious-minded she was about the whole thing. "And how could it not, with me there to show the way," she lifted her head.

"I see," he imitated the gesture; he was with her, and she resettled in her seat, anxious.

"So how do I make it happen?"

"Well…" he sat up, considering her question. "Who would be in charge? Don't you need a teacher of some sort?" he asked.

"Yeah, I guess so…" she sat back, momentarily stumped by the question. After a few seconds, she stood. "Be right back," she returned to her room with haste. She should have done her research before this, of course. She would deal with that in a heartbeat. She could search the internet with the best of them. She needed the best, and as her father would say, results spoke for themselves: she needed a champion.

Not ten minutes went by before she returned to her father, back with his newspaper. When he heard her come, the paper went down once more. "Well?"

"Shelby Corcoran. She's won all these competitions lately, and if anyone can take my… raw talent, and take it to the next level, it'll be her," she nodded with complete confidence.

"Well if she's as good as you say she is, won't she be working with another of these clubs?"

"She was, but she's not right now; she's free. Don't you see? This is how it was meant to happen. She's available, I need her…" she mimed with one hand for Shelby and one for herself, bringing both hands together: results.

"Okay, so we see about getting this woman to coach you, then I suppose I can give your principal the necessary… nudge," he declared, and she burst, hugging him.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she pulled back, kissing his cheek. "I'm going to go look for songs," she announced, making her exit once again, bound for her room.

She didn't know what she'd do once she had her club, not really. She had no doubt that he'd pull through for her; he always did. Still, now she was placed before the near-established fact. Without a doubt she wanted to show everyone what she was made of. She didn't want to show how the rejection had initially struck her. She wanted to be strong, fierce… loved… even just appreciated. It could seem easy to some, to her, it was the hardest thing in the world.

She would make the best of this. Even if it took a while, even if no one wanted to join, she would keep going. To have someone of Shelby Corcoran's caliber teaching her could only be a good thing, so if it was one on one, then she'd have even more chances. She would work hard, become even better than what she already was, and then they'd know… She may or may not have been smirking.

She didn't want them to see her as weak. She may have looked strong to them, but that was how she wanted to be seen. Anything else would have meant exposing what was inside her, not the girl who could say and do as she pleased. She was comfortable with who she was out there, even if no one else really seemed to have embraced it the same way she had. Now maybe this club would change that, fix her aches, bring back confidence… She was just the kind of talent the world hadn't realized it needed just yet.

THE END

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><p><strong>AN: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
><strong>**In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
><strong>******always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!******


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